Bound By Destiny
by Narshe Delvar
Summary: When someone is thrown over the edge, one event completely changes his life forever. How will he live his new life? Will he keep on living, or give up on his chance for true happiness? Slight oocness of t3h characters. Violence. Graphic Language. WIP
1. Episode 1: Darkness Consuming the Soul

Shuffle! Fanfic

Episode 1

Darkness Consuming the Soul

The day was hot, just like every other fucking day in the life of Dizzy. Rolling around in bed, under the sheets, Dizzy pushed them off of his being, getting himself up and sitting right in front of the fan. Even though he was in an air-conditioned house, it was still hot as hell in his room from his constantly running laptop that he had set up on top of one of his dressers in his small room. Putting his face in his hands, he let the rushing air of the fan gently play with his hair as he thought about what he had to do that day.

"Ugh…work. I don't feel like working today. Already feeling like shit," he groaned to himself as the sunlight that was seeping through the sheet-covered windows started to make his back a little hot. Falling back, he was lying in an unbuttoned up shirt and shorts that were far too big for him to wear without a belt. "Another day in hell, I guess," he said, getting up and putting on his uniform for work.

After getting his hair pulled back into a ponytail, he put on his work hat and opened up the door to his room to find a cold blast of air hit him in the face. 'Ahh, that feels so good,' he thought, leaving his door open so that it could circulate the stagnant air that was sitting in there from the night before of being on the computer. For the past couple of months, the only friend he had was his computer. There was absolutely no one his age that he could get together with, or really even talk to, without feeling like bludgeoning them over the head with a nine-inch-nail baseball bat for being so stupid. He seriously felt like the smarted person in the town; it was definitely what one would call the Boondocks.

Ever since his plans got fucked over, he had been ping-ponged from one city to another across the country, living with family that really didn't care about him too much. It was hell in itself just moving from one place to another in such short amounts of time. He really started to get the feeling that the world really didn't want him alive at all. Or sane…

Leaving the house, he locked the front door and went to his pickup truck, sighing. He really didn't want to go to work that morning. But brushing that feeling aside, he climbed into it and drove off on the highway. Once he got to work, he clocked in, checked to see where he was stationed to work that day, and started to work.

Everything was fine and dandy until rush hour came. He was working on the grill, but was told to go to the back and help the new person that was in the dish room. Walking in there, Dizzy let out a curse and immediately ran to the back. The dishes were literally backed up to the door. There were no clean pots to cook in for the people that had to cook the food. The managers were really getting pissed off, and so were the chefs.

After about three or four hours later, it was toned down enough for the new guy to get back to it without the help of another. Cursing up a storm, Dizzy walked out of the back, took off his uniform shirt and hat and clocked out, leaving the clothing in the manager's room, and left the building. By the time he got to the door of his truck, two of the managers and one of the hard workers came out to talk with him.

"Why are you leaving? What you just did a few minutes ago was short of a miraculous thing! I've not seen someone work that hard in a long time," the woman spoke. Dizzy looked up at the three of them, sighed, and shrugged.

"I can't take it anymore. All of this stress is getting to me. It is literally driving me crazy," he said.

"Well then, we can cut back on your hours some, but please don't leave. You have been one of the best workers we've had in a long time," the male manager spoke, but Dizzy was already putting the key into the ignition.

"I'm sorry, but this isn't suited for me. Get someone else that will work harder and actually enjoy it," Dizzy said, closing his door, and driving off, leaving the managers and worker in a state of confusion.

'I'm not of any fucking use around here, or even anywhere for that matter. It seems that death really is the answer to everything that has been bothering me lately,' he started thinking, listening to Nile's i In Their Darkened Shrines III: Destruction of the Temple of the Enemies of Ra /i . He couldn't find his place in the world that was around him; he was far too different. Far too frail…

Getting home, Dizzy unlocked the front door and walked in, seeing his grandfather standing in the kitchen, looking at him kind of strangely.

"What you say? What are you doing home so early," he said.

"They had enough workers, so they let me go for today," Dizzy responded right back, without wincing or being slightly nervous about the fact that he had quit that day. His grandfather nodded to him, and went to the living room to watch some TV.

Sighing, Dizzy went to his room and got onto his computer, after undressing himself and putting on the same clothes he wore that very morning. He wanted to cry. Inside himself, he was eating away at his own sanity because of how he was; a spineless little sissy boy that hated confrontation, talking to people in general, and was deathly afraid of water and girls. Even on the internet, he was the exact same way in real life.

Yet, he had all of these people that talked to him. Why did he always get people to flock to him, when he doesn't even like half of the people that talks to him? Why can't he just tell them to leave him alone and quit talking to him?

"Because I just can't…I'm a wimp and a failure at life, plain and simple. No girl likes me, and I'll never have the guts to talk to one. Why even live in the first place. What is the meaning of living on this shit-hole called Earth," he questioned himself, thinking about it for a few hours while listening to some music.

Minutes turned into hours as he sat there, just looking at stuff on the internet, listening to his music, telling anyone that talked to him to leave him alone. When nightfall finally came, Dizzy sighed and put his computer back on his dresser. Getting up, he dressed himself in very baggy pants with two holes in the hem of the back pockets, a black button-up shirt, and put on a hat, stuffing it over his pony tail. Grabbing the keys to his truck and the house, he left his room and passed by the living room, where his grandfather still was. Going out the side door, he made sure to pick up his dagger that he put off to the side, hidden from the view of anyone that tried to look.

Dizzy was tired of life. He was tired of always living the way he did. Nothing good was going to ever come out of it anyway. All of his friends always said to him that suicide was never the answer, but to him, it seemed like the only option he had, if he didn't want to end up killing them out of insanity. Life was literally driving him crazy; and he's only twenty years old...

Driving away in his truck, he went to the closest store to get himself an energy drink. After paying for it and leaving, he drove off on the deserted highway, drinking his drink. He was numb inside. Like his heart was made out of ice, unable to be thawed. Finding a good field clearing, he pulled off onto a dirt road and rode it for a little bit, making sure he was far from civilization. Once he thought he was far enough, he stopped, turned off the truck, and got out of it, carrying the dagger in his hand, unsheathed. It was ready to draw blood in an instant. Standing in front of the headlights, Dizzy looked at the knife edge very carefully. It was easily able to go through his skin, which was what he wanted.

"My life always sucked anyway. Nothing good ever came out of it. Even though people say that I'm a good person, in the end I'm really not. I'm a sad person. Someone not worthy of living in a world like this. My meaning of living is dying now…" he whispered to himself, gripping the knife handle in his right hand, placing the blade along the main artery on his left arm.

"I should have done this long ago, and not now, having to suffer all of these years alone. I wish I had never existed here, cursed with the blood that runs through my veins," he said, raking the blade across his arm. The pain surged through him like molten metal running through his veins. The initial cut opened up the main artery, gushing out blood all over his face and body. With a wry smile across his pale visage, he was truly happy. Now he could die. He could rest from this fucking shit-hole of a world he had to live in. The last thing that he ever saw before fading to black was a pure white light, with a hint of pink around the edges, and a female figure standing in front of him.

'Kami-sama…can't be…Lady Luck..'

The girl had arrived too late. She saw all of the blood on the kid and the ground and knew she could only do one thing to save him, and that was to teleport him to a different universe, using the time shift to reverse his wound from becoming so fatal.

"I can't believe that this kid was so selfish and depressed about himself to actually go this far. Shin-ou will not be happy with me," she softly mumbled to herself, her tiny frame dancing around in a circle, waving around a wand to help her use her magic. "I just hope this works…"

After speaking in an arcane tongue, the spell was set. She said the key word, and in a flash of light, both of them disappeared from existence of that universe.

Everything was so dark. It felt like Dizzy's body was in a constant free-fall. Was he falling to hell for slitting his wrist, killing himself? His entire body was frozen when he tried to move his arms. Panicking, he tried to struggle some more.

"Oi!! He's moving!"

"He's actually alive!?!"

"Holy shit…"

Hearing distant whispers of people, Dizzy thought they were voices of devils, ready to take his body to the underworld, where they would torture his soul for all eternity. Not like he wasn't used to it while living on Earth anyway…

"Someone get him to the nurse! Quickly!"

"Call an ambulance!"

"Oh kami-sama, I hope he is alright…"

'Why would someone be worried about me in hell,' he thought to himself, opening up his eyes, yet still seeing nothing. But wait!!! He did see something; faint light in the distance. Slowly, his body was becoming free from the paralysis that was binding him down. Moving his arms, he brought them to his face, rubbing his eyes. As more light flooded in, like opening up a closed door to a room that was dark, he was slowly able to see figures standing over him.

"He's opening his eyes!"

"Nani!?!?!?"

"Stand back!!! Don't crowd around him!"

Puzzled by the voices that he kept hearing, Dizzy kept moving around, getting a clearer and clearer picture of everything around him. Suddenly, a pain shot through his back. Yelping out in pain quite loudly, he pushed his body upwards and to his right, rolling around, screaming in pain from the fall.

The people that were standing around him were wide-eyed in awe. It wasn't everyday that they saw a person fall through five feet of solid concrete and land right in the middle of a school classroom in Japan. Some of the girls were screaming in horror at the pain that the person was in. Others tried to go help, but were told by the teacher to stop and not interfere.

After a little bit, the pain started to fade away, and he was able to see clearly again, Dizzy opened his eyes fully, seeing dirt and debris all over the place, including himself. Looking at his left wrist, there was not a mark on his body. He couldn't believe it. Did his body become perfect or something? Was this really what it was like to be dead? He really thought that he wouldn't be able to feel physical pain once he died, but it seems that he was wrong. Looking around at all the people that were looking at him, he noticed that the setting was fairly similar to something he had seen before. Picking himself up with a groan of pain, he started to dust himself off and look for the oldest person in the room; someone who actually looked like they knew what they were talking about. Seeing a woman in her mid-twenties, he asked her a question.

"Am I really dead?"

Everyone looked at him like he had lost his mind. The teacher was startled to hear such a question from a person that fell through the roof of the school and was standing up in front of her, not a scratch on him. Looking at what he was wearing, she knew that he was not from the country, so she tried to explain it to him.

"I'm surprised you are not. You just went through five feet of solid concrete a minute ago. But no, you are in a Japanese school. Very much alive and well, from what I can tell," she said to him. Obviously she said the wrong things to him, because he suddenly became very angry, looking homicidal.

"WHAT!?!? You have GOT to be shitting ME!! I fucking slit my wrist for this shit!? To still be fucking ALIVE in Japan, of all places," Dizzy almost literally screamed to the teacher. Everyone started to look at him with fearful looks in their eyes. He was ready to destroy something. Though he had always wanted to go to Japan, he knew he would never be able to socialize with anyone because of how he was. But at the moment, he was in a fit of rage, unable to think rationally, and the teacher noticed that.

"What do you mean slitting your wrist? Do you mean you tried to kill yourself!?"

The students looked at the kid in disbelief. Half of them started to feel sorry for the person that was in front of them then.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. And for a time, I was actually successful. But before all of the blood poured from my body, a being showed up in front of me, and from what it looks like, saved me through some ridiculously miraculous ways, and sent me here for an ungodly reason," Dizzy retorted. Kicking a piece of gravel from the roof, it shot through a window and looked like it had gone into orbit.

Everyone saw that and started to back away, even the teacher. A person with that kind of strength could do just about anything.

Suddenly, a man wearing a black shirt and had really long silver hair and long ears burst into the classroom, with a more muscular man running right behind him, his slightly pointed ears twitching.

"There he is! I can't believe that Teila would screw up that badly as to send him through the roof of the school that my daughter was in! She could have been killed!"

"Aye! And my Sia could have been hurt as well. For now, I'll help with this mess; you take care of our new responsibility."

The silver-haired man nodded his head, running up to Dizzy, waving his hand in front of the ornery kid, causing him to fall asleep almost instantly. Catching him in his arms, he was surprised that he was unscathed from the fall. Irritated that Teila messed up as bad as she did, he didn't hear his daughter talking to him.

"Oto-san!!"

The man looked up and at a blue-haired girl with long pointy ears, very much like the man that was in front of everyone now.

"I'm sorry Nerine. It will have to wait until everything is settled. It seems that our new arrival here isn't happy to be alive, sadly enough, and needs to be taught a lesson that is most important to us all. I'll be at home by the time school is out," he said, running out of the room and out of the school.

Many of the students that saw the man carrying the kid in his arms thought that he was rushing him to the hospital, since Dizzy had fallen through the roof, but he wanted to get to an open and safe place before his spell wore off on him.

Running through the town, he was able to get to a fountain in the middle of the park before Dizzy started to shift around in his arms.

Dizzy felt like he was being carried. It was somewhat comfortable, but he had a bad feeling about something, so he violently shifted, falling to the ground with a loud thud. Looking up, he saw the same man that had put him to sleep and got up immediately. He grabbed at the collar of the man's shirt.

"What was the meaning of that!? And a bigger question, how the hell did you do that!?" Dizzy was confused now. He knew that magic didn't exist in the real world, but he still thought he was in the real world.

"Calm down, young one. No need to be so rash-"

"Fuck that!! Yes there is! I wanted to die, but instead got sent here through some strange means! Why can't people just mind their own fucking business and leave me alo-"

SLAP!

The older man slapped the younger one right across the face, silencing him rather quickly.

"Quit being so pathetic and self-centered. Everyone has a destiny to fulfill in life; you just have to find out what it is. Obviously you know nothing of the real world, and are actually quite lucky to be given a second chance as you have now!" The man looked sternly at Dizzy, a flash of power showing in his eyes. The younger one could only look away, averting eye contact.

"Why..? Why me? Why couldn't it have been someone else, someone who actually deserves a second chance…" Dizzy looked to his left, eyes downcast as he continued on. "But you are right: I do know nothing of the real world. I've always been shut away from it, afraid of everything that I should experience, but don't want to. In all honesty, though, I don't want to know. Nobody will accept me for what I am, and that is a fact-"

"How do you know? I didn't think you were omniscient," the man retorted, getting a flushed response from Dizzy. "You truly know nothing of the ways of acceptance, though you have done it so many times, yourself, through your lifetime of making friends."

Dizzy couldn't respond to that. He knew he had lost the war on words. It was so very true. He was too much of a nice guy to truly ever turn down the hand of someone who was in need. With a clearer mind, now he saw why so many people liked him, but was that him, or what he wanted other people to perceive him as?

The man saw the question and doubt in the kid's visage and pat him on the shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself. Let's take things one at a time. Come with me." He extended his hand out to Dizzy, who reluctantly took it.

Dizzy didn't know what to expect now. Everything was so unclear again, just like last time. But, from what it looks like, he will be having help to find what his meaning in living is all about; whether Dizzy likes it or not.


	2. Episode 2: Shedding Light on the Truth

Shuffle! Fanfic

Episode 2

Shedding Light on the Truth

As Dizzy and the strange man with long silver hair and pointy ears walked along the sidewalk to kami-sama-knows-where, he started to get strange vibes coming from the man. It wasn't fear…but more like respect, and credibility that someone could silence him in such a manner as to shift the balance of power of words from Dizzy. Normally that never happened, for he was very manipulative in how he could convey his words. But at the moment, he tried to distance himself as much as possible from the silver-haired man so that he could have his own little space, slowing down.

The man noticed this and stopped, with Dizzy stopping right afterwards.

"What is the matter, young one?" He sounded like he actually cared for Dizzy.

Dizzy only averted his gaze to the left and remained silent. Narrowing his eyes a little, the man turned back around and started walking again, with the younger man in slow tow, almost spellbound at what could happen next.

It only took a few more minutes before they arrived at a gargantuan Western-style house, very different from the ones that were scattered about in the area. Going inside the gate, the two of them walked along the brick-laden walkway up to the door. The man pushed it open, to find a beautiful young high school girl with pointy ears and long blue hair standing there.

"Oto-san! It's so late. What took you so long?"

Looking up at the sky, Dizzy didn't even notice that darkness had fallen, the sky riddled with so many beautiful stars. He suddenly became transfixed in the beautiful scenery, as it was extremely rare for him to encounter such wondrous view, as if he were transfixed in a book. Ma-ou noticed this, and decided to leave the boy be and enter the house, where Shin-ou was waiting.

"Everything is settled. The roof has been repaired and the papers have been worked on. Now all we have to do is find him a place to live," the man in the blue robes spoke, standing in the hallway. "What about the boy? What is he doing there?"

Shin-ou was about to walk outside when Ma-ou stopped him, putting his arm out and shaking his head.

"It seems that he has been transfixed by a beautiful sight that he doesn't want anyone else to know about. Just let him be for now; I doubt that boy has seen anything like that, and looked at something, with such intensity in a very long time."

"Aye, aye. Looking back on his history, it seems that he had always admired the more simple things in life and always stopped to admire such beauty. Honestly…how could such a quiet soul be so unstable?"

Ma-ou answered back, but not immediately. He was trying to think of how he was going to put it without saying the kid was full-out insane.

"Eto…well…let's put it this way: if someone has been denied everything his whole life, what else would he know, other than pushing things away? Trying to regain control of oneself's life and mind is no simple task. That was why we agreed to bring him here…crap…" the silver-haired man cursed as he suddenly felt a powerful stare on his back, his face starting to slowly turn blue.

Nerine, Ma-ou's daughter, was still there, and just as soon as he said what he shouldn't have, Lisianthus walked in, wondering what all the commotion was all about and heard everything. Both of them looked startled, a questioning visage the both of them bore as they were about to ask what the two of them meant. Shin-ou knew what was going to happen and decided to intervene and tell them.

"We have been looking for…for someone to bring to this realm to see if certain…qualities change about them when doing so. Obviously we were right, judging from the scene in the classroom with him kicking that chunk of concrete…" he sounded a little exasperated, never thinking that it would have been so profound a change in the boy.

Both of the girls were not happy to hear that they were just using the kid for experiments of their own. But Shin-ou was not finished, and decided to let Ma-ou finish up what he was going to say, nodding to the tall young man.

"We also did it for another reason: He has nothing to look forward to. He feels that he always overlooked, even by his family and is ignored most of the time by them. Through years of shutting himself away, where nobody bothered to even go check on him, he has learned to suppress his emotions, and even worse, has lost his entire will to live. Nor does he have the capability to understand and convey emotions, since they are almost foreign to him. Even though he didn't come from a bad family, he still managed to become broken do to lack of anyone really caring what happened to him.

"We had been discussing it for years, but the time came to decide came about a few hours ago, before he came flying through the school roof. He actually decided on suicide and nearly killed himself. Thanks to Teila, though, we were able to save him by bringing him here…" Ma-ou's voice trailed off as he turned around to look at Dizzy, who was still transfixed at the sky behind the open front door.

"But…because of HOW we brought him through time and space, we have absolutely no idea how to bring him back to where he originally came from. We have an idea, but they are only that: ideas. We don't even have theories for it yet, but our researchers are working hard on finding out anything more on it.

"We had decided whenever we would bring him over, that he be enrolled in the school that you and Sia would be attending," Ma-ou pointed to Nerine.

Both of the girls were speechless, but as they glanced outside towards the kid with semi-long hair, they couldn't help but feel sorry for such a soul as his. Both of them thought back to the classroom, where he suddenly exploded at the notion that he was still alive and well. It was frightening to think that such a person desired death so profoundly.

The two gods looked at their two daughters and smiled softly.

"Go on ahead and tell him to come inside; he'll catch a cold if we left him out there to star-gaze all night," Shin-ou chuckled as the other god led the way to the living room.

The two girls were left in the dust of their fathers, who were probably going to use this opportunity to celebrate the arrival of someone new and drink. Both sighed exasperatingly and walked outside, trying to get the attention of Dizzy.

Never had the girls seen someone so transfixed in something so simple as the sky. It wasn't going anywhere, so why was he gazing so intently? Sia thought that as she approached him and tried to say something.

"Why are you looking up at the stars so intensely?" Her voice was soft, kind, heart-warming. But they fell on deaf ears as Dizzy didn't register that he heard anything, still looking off into the distance.

"Hey…can you hear me?" She tried again, but to no avail. He didn't show signs that he was even interested, or even recognized their existence. Sia started to become angry.

"Why aren't you answering!?"

Still nothing.

Now Sia was angry. With sudden abandon, she tried to reach out to touch the kid to see if he was even still alive, only to have her hand stopped by Dizzy's, grabbing her wrist intensely. Pain was written all along her face as he slowly averted his gaze from the sky to Sia. The look that he gave the two girls chilled their bones.

There were no emotions in his visage. His eyes were completely blank. But what they felt was nothing compared to what they heard from him.

"Don't touch me…I'll KILL you," he said the words so casually and so monotonously, as if he said them all the time.

Sia started to writhe at the hard gaze given to her. Never before had she felt such…hateful vibes coming from a person.

Nerine started towards the two of them, thinking she could try to break the contact between the two of them before Dizzy broke Sia's wrist. Popping sounds were starting to reverberate in the air as Sia's face contorted in pain. But the beauty was stopped in her tracks by his piercing gaze, like it was able to look into the very being of one's self.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" Finally letting go of Sia's wrist, she yelped out in pain as Nerine went over to heal the girl's fractured wrist. "I don't need anyone to show compassion, mercy, or pity for me…" his words were like ice as he turned his back and started to walk away from the house.

Out of nowhere, a being ran right into Dizzy, knocking the both of them down, landing on their butts. It was a male being, accompanied soon after by two other girls, one with short orange hair and the other with long pale grey hair pulled up into pigtails. They looked down at the boy in the white clothing.

"Daijoubu?" The girl with the orange hair spoken up, looking down at the two men.

"Yeah…I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I thought I heard someone yelp out in pain, though."

Looking over to where Sia and Nerine were, he wasn't wrong, seeing that the blue-haired girl was using a healing magic on the red-haired girl's wrist. Then he looked over at the person he bumped into, standing up and gazed at him questioningly.

Dizzy was lying on his back the whole time, gazing up at the stars again. Then he felt a pair of eyes fall upon him, looking up to see the person who bumped into him glaring down at him, like he was someone inferior. That pissed Dizzy off.

"What are you looking at so intently? If you are not stupid, then you should have already surmised the situation. Now if you will excuse me…" Dizzy got up and dusted himself off, patting his butt and back of any dust on it, and started again towards the gate when he was stopped by an arm from the boy.

"What is your problem? Hurting a girl like that!"

Dizzy interrupted the kid before he continued.

"A girl, a boy, it doesn't matter. They are all bodies of flesh, and they are all things that I hate. If you know what is best for your health, I suggest you remove your arm, before it will become functionless…" There was no emotion conveyed within his voice as he spoke casually, like he would to an old friend whom he had known a long time.

Rin blanched at how the kid could sound so…monotonous and uncaring. Moving his arm, he ran over to Sia and Nerine, followed by Kaede and Primula. With this chance, Dizzy thought he was free of obstacles, but he was sadly mistaken. Suddenly he was frozen where he was. Soon after, Ma-ou came out of the mansion-like building, not exactly happy to be out there.

"Now, now, now…what did I say earlier? You might be powerful, but my magic is even more so. Cooperate, so we don't have to force you to…" There was a slight edge in his voice as he spoke. Dizzy picked up on it immediately and knew then that he was defeated. Even if he felt indifferent, he knew when he was defeated and needed to heel.

"Alright…just keep them all away from me…in case I might do something bad to them…" Dizzy's voice, for the first time to everyone, sounded like it had emotion in it. Broken up, but still there none-the-less.

Shin-ou rose an eyebrow, impressed that Ma-ou was able to get the kid to control himself so effortlessly.

Once everything was al said and done, everyone was in the living room, with a still-bound Dizzy forcefully walking into the room. He was really starting to feel skittish. There were too many bodies in the room. Too many people confined so close. His eyes were darting from one to another, like a caged animal who was afraid of the attention he was getting. Ma-ou saw this and decided to excuse all of the kids, other than Rin.

All the girls were a little put out that they had to leave, but taking one look at Sia convinced them all that it was for the best at they stay out of it…for now, at least.

Rin looked at Dizzy, his expression unreadable as so many things meshed together. Ma-ou decided to help clear things up with him and started.

"This, Rin, is Dizzy. He is not of this world. We had been studying him for a very long time, and felt that we needed to bring him here so that we can teach him a very valuable lesson in lilfe."

Rin's eyebrow rose, confused by what Ma-ou was saying. Grinning slightly, the tall pale man continued.

"He has completely lost the will to live, yet he still has much to life for-"

A chortle came out of Dizzy, interrupting the man. But he didn't mind; he half-expected it to happen. Then he continued.

"We decided that it would be best for him to start anew. A clean slate, per say. He has been so deprived of emotions that he actually developed a second personality devoted to hating everyone and everything, including himself. That is what you see before you now."

"EH!?"

Rin couldn't believe his ears. He was staring face to face with a man that lost his mind, well, most of it anyway. Ma-ou smiled softly and nodded his head.

"It might sound frivolous at first, but all he needs is exposure…and time to cool off so that he can think clearly, since he can't right now."

Then his face got serious as he stared at Rin.

"We will need your help in keeping him under control at school. He is a very quiet and introverted person, so any sort of large groupings around him isn't a wise idea. It might be hard, but it will be worthwhile in the end."

Rin didn't know what to think at the moment. He didn't know if he should feel sorry for the kid, or compassion for his sad state of being. Nodding his head, he wordlessly agreed.

"Good! Now, go on and get home. Tomorrow will not be an easy day for you."

With that, Ma-ou dismissed Rin, and Sia and Nerine came in the room, concerned looks on their faces. The man's face beamed with a smile.

"Don't worry. I have a special room just for cases like this. He will be just fine, I assure you." He knew that the both of them overhead what they were talking about in the room and started to sympathize with the kid. He just hoped that they could help him open up more and mend the wounds he has within his soul.

With that, he dismissed Shin-ou and Sia, much to their dismay. But they understood and complied with the demand, leaving just Nerine there.

"Oto-san…are you sure it will be wise to keep such an unstable person here. You should have noticed what happened with him and Sia-chan…"

"Daijoubu. He is much less rash than this under normal circumstances. Just give him time to digest everything fully, and calm down, and I am sure you will have yet another great friend to add."

Dizzy, by this time, was completely ignoring everything and was just sitting on the couch, still unable to move because of the jutsu that bound him down still. He was starting to come to his senses again, though, and had a much more calm air about him than what was around him not even ten minutes ago. Inside, he started to feel really bad for how he reacted to everything.

Nerine left the room, dismissed to go to bed, leaving Ma-ou and Dizzy alone. The pale man noticed the depressed disposition that the kid was in and patted him on the head.

"It must have been hard for you to lose your cool like that. And harder still to keep on living with nothing to look forward to do. You are FAR stronger than you think…and more useful as a human being than you could ever imagine. Don't let the scars of the past bring you down; they are nothing more than memories now. Your new life starts now; it is up to you whether or not you will take it.

"For now, I have set up a special room for you. It is reinforced for anything you can throw at it, and much more. A good night's sleep should also help you to think rationally tomorrow. Now come, I'll show you to your quarters."

Suddenly Dizzy was free of the spell and was able to move again. Complying with the man, he got up and slowly followed behind the god through corridors and hallways to finally reach a solid steel blue door. Opening it up, Ma-ou bowed, letting Dizzy enter first. Then he crossed the threshold into the room.

There was next to nothing in it, other than a steel-framed bed and a couple of pictures on the embroidered elaborate walls. It was all very beautifully drawn artwork done with paintbrushes and watercolors.

"Beautiful…" was all Dizzy could say as he stared at the walls, still walking towards his bed.

"It really is beautiful artwork. You are one of few people who seem to really appreciate the simpler things in life. A truly rare find indeed. Now, I'll leave you to your quarters. For now, though, I'll be locking the door. Sleep well…" His voice faced as the steel door shut tight and the sound of a locking mechanism was heard.

Dizzy sat on the bed, transfixed by what really happened today. He was given a second chance to live. A second chance to change everything about him in ways that he could only imagine. It was then that tears started to profusely come out of his eyes, burying his face in his hands that such a blessing was bestowed upon someone like him. But what made him the happiest…was that there were people who actually showed that they were interested in his well-being, even if a little bit.

Lying down on the bed, Dizzy soon fell asleep, feeling so relived. Like a very large burden was lifted from his shoulders, and a heavy weight was lifted from his heart. He hoped that one day he could even erase the hate that had been built up within his being. But he was going to do things one at a time. First thing's first he wanted to change: become more social, no matter what.

Shin-ou and Ma-ou were watching Dizzy fall asleep effortlessly on the large tv that was in the living room. Then they turned it off.

"Well, it seems that he truly is grateful to be given a second chance. I guess you really were right in you prediction about this boy."

"Yes, well it really wasn't that hard to see what kind of results were going to show. He is just someone who wants to know what it feels like to be wanted, needed by someone, and have a need to do something about his life. He needed a fresh start to get himself going again. We are only here to guide him along."

"It is quite strange that we decided to take part in watching over him. Ah well, I guess that is what gods are for, ne?"

Both of them started laughing as Shin-ou brought out some sake for the two of them to enjoy. Unbeknownst to them, though, Nerine and Sia were listening closely to what they were talking about through the door. They both looked at each other, expressions of understanding spreading across their faces as they went about their own ways again.

The rest of the night was very, very quiet and peaceful.


	3. Episode 3: The True Meaning of Pain

Shuffle! Fanfic

Episode 3

The True Meaning of Pain

After all the excitement and mental exhaustion of yesterday, it was pretty hard for Dizzy to get out of bed the next morning. And considering there were no windows in the room made it that much harder. He was still in a state of profound sleep when the lights in his room suddenly turned on. It didn't startle him awake, but it did wake him up to a point where he sat up in the bed and rubbed his eyes so that he could actually see and not be blinded by the light.

Dizzy felt dry paths all over his face as he rubbed himself awake. Was he really crying in his sleep too? Very hard to believe, but after what had happened yesterday, it wasn't hard for someone like him to feel poorly about himself for reacting in such a rash manner. Remembering the girls that he saw, it didn't strike him until just now about their ears.

'What ARE all of them? They are not human, that is for sure…' Dizzy pondered that tangent until the door that barred him inside made sounds of locks being disabled and rendered useless for the time being.

Ma-ou came in and noticed the kid was in a bit more of a disheveled state, but looking far better than he was yesterday. That made him happy, and considering what was going to happen today, it would have been better for the kid to start off on a good foot.

"It seems that you are awake now. And in a much better mood, I see. Come, I will show you where you can wash up."

Dizzy didn't realize it until just now…he needed a bath, but more importantly, he didn't have another set of clothes apart from what he was wearing right then. And they were covered in dust from the fall that he had taken when he first entered the world. Everything happened so fast that he didn't even realize that he had slept in same clothing that he wore from his own time. They would come up with something in due time. First, he needed to wash himself up.

Being escorted out of the jail cell by Ma-ou, the two of them walked down the long hallways, with Dizzy admiring all of the antique pictures that lined the walls for as long as he could see. Was the pale man an antique collector, or did he just like paintings, or were they just there to keep the walls from being completely bare? He couldn't tell from what he was able to gather in the little bit of time that he was actually rational enough to think straight.

Turning left down another hallway, though much shorter, Ma-ou stopped by the first door on the left.

"This is the washroom. Feel free to use the facilities in whatever manner best suites you. Take all the time you need to get yourself clean. I'll have another set of clothing for you whenever you get done," the man smiled softly to Dizzy, who in turn nodded his head and opened up the door. Before he was able to close it, the pale man spoke again.

"If you need any help, don't feel shy about calling me or my daughter," Ma-ou spoke, something of a malicious smile spread across his face

Dizzy didn't know if that was a good thing or not, but before he was even able to tell the man that he didn't know either of their names, it would be kind of hard to call for help unless he just screamed out 'I need help!!!' That would be a little strange, though.

Shrugging that minor problem off, he crossed the threshold and locked the door behind him after closing it, a habit he always had. He just didn't feel comfortable whenever the door was unlocked. Looking about the room, it was fairly small. It was one of them…prep rooms was the only thing he could think of; a place to get dressed and undressed for the bath that was across the sliding translucent glass door.

Stripping down to nothing, Dizzy put all of his cloths into a neat pile in a corner and picked up a towel that was hanging on the wall that, strangely enough, had his name on it. He was a little startled, but nothing should really surprise him after what happened yesterday.

Opening up the sliding door that led to the bath, Dizzy's mouth fell open as he gazed at how expansive it really was. The tub was inside the ground, rising up a little to not be flush with the floor. He had only seen these kinds of washrooms in anime and pictures. To be able to actually bathe in one of them, he felt really lucky. Carefully walking to the tub, he put the towel off to the side and gently slid into the water that was already prepared. He didn't bother asking himself who prepared it; he only wanted to soak in it.

Sitting down, Dizzy put his arms on the edge and just sat there with his head softly lying on his crossed arms, staring up at the ceiling. It really felt like a dream come true for him. But then he started to think. Something bad was going to happen. Nothing this good ever happens to him without there being severe repercussions. That started to worry him. What else could happen to him that was as bad as still living, living in a world of his dreams, but living none-the-less? Suddenly he bolted up and shook himself off, slapping the sides of his face rather hard.

"No!! There is no need to think like that anymore. I've been given another chance to live, and in a world where I actually want to be in…I think?" Dizzy really started to think about that, but didn't get very far before there was a knock on the outer door. A soft, feminine voice passed through it in a soothing tone.

"Breakfast is almost ready, Dizzy-san."

It was a very kind voice, something he could only dream of hearing. If only he could get a girlfriend that was like that. Shaking that thought out of his mind rather quickly, he vocally responded with a 'yeah' and started out of the tub. Drying himself off, he walked into the outer room and proceeded to completely dry himself off. Looking around, his eyes didn't register the pile of clothing that was sitting on top of a floor cabinet. Then he did a double take and blanched a little. How did those clothes appear there? Now THAT kind of freaked him out.

Sighing, Dizzy decided to use them clothes and dressed himself rather quickly. It was a pair of grey cargo pants with many pockets all along the legs, with zip-off legs below the knees. It reminded him of his sister's iCaffeine/i pants that she had. The shirt was a nearly skin-tight black shirt with short sleeves and was still long enough for him to wear without being even more uncomfortable than he already was. He hated skin-tight clothing of any sort.

Opening up the door, Dizzy met face-to-face with the blue-haired beauty that was the mansion owner's daughter. Her long elf-like ears only accentuated her radiant beauty as he started to feel his face burn a little and took a few paces back as he looked off to the side. The girl did notice the pattern and giggled a little bit, only adding to her charm even more.

"It seems you really are still human. I didn't think men as old as you could still act in such a manner."

She was referring to the fact that he was being shy about being in the presence of a cute girl. Dizzy kind of winced that she had hit the nail right on the head, and only nodded his head in jest to the statement. Again, she giggled.

"You know, you really look much cuter as a bashful person than an angry one," she said, suddenly grabbing at his hand and pulling him along. "Breakfast should be ready now. We don't want to let the food get cold, so let's hurry. Since you don't know the way around the mansion yet, I'll help guide you!"

The blue haired beauty was pulling the flustered Dizzy by his hand as they weaved through hallways to get to the first floor and to the dining room. It was there that he saw the pale man again. The food was set all along the fairly long table.

"I thought they would fit you really well. That is good to see. They will have to work for now until you can get your uniform," the man spoke with a smile on his face.

Dizzy didn't know what he was talking about, but smelling the food made him realize that he had not eaten in nearly twenty-four hours. He could feel his stomach rumbling as he was guided to a seat and was told to help himself.

During breakfast, the two of them found it rather surprising how much Dizzy actually ate. They didn't think that someone so small could eat so much without being sick.

Once they all finished, Ma-ou looked over to him and his daughter.

"You should be getting to school here really soon. Shin-ou should be outside with Sia and the rest of them. And you will be going with them Dizzy," the man smiled mischievously as an unreadable expression spread across Dizzy's visage. He couldn't tell if he was happy, excited, or horrified. In the end, he wasn't able to tell because Nerine was pulling him by his arm so that they couldn't be late.

Once the two of them were out of the house, Ma-ou softly smiled as he snapped his fingers and the table was cleared. A strange smile started to spread across his lips.

"He does seem like a very suitable candidate. Very much on the same level as Rin is. I wonder how things are going to turn out…" he spoke to himself as he sat down on his tall chair, a very thoughtful visage he bore. Something clearly made him think, but it wasn't a worrying type of look; more like the realization of something new that he didn't think of until the element fell in.

The blue haired beauty kept pulling at Dizzy's arm as the two of them emerged from the front door and ran across the courtyard, where the red haired girl was standing, in her school uniform, just like the girl pulling his hand was in. It seemed that she didn't bear any malice at all from what he had done last night. But he still felt very bad about what he had done and averted his gaze from her. With a small laugh, the girl stood in front of him and leaned to the side that he was looking away and bore a soft smile.

"It doesn't hurt as bad as it did last night. I can move it now," she spoke, moving her wrist in all directions to prove what she stated. Then there was a loud pop, and she held her wrist in slight pain. Still with a smile across her visage, she softly giggled, a little exasperated. "Well, for the most part, at least."

Focusing her attention from the shy Dizzy, the red haired beauty called out to the blue haired one.

"Rin-chan, let's go and get Rin-san, Kaede-chan, and Primula," she spoke with much enthusiasm.

"Hai, lets. Come Dizzy. We might as well walk together since we are all going to the same place," Nerine spoke to him, getting a nod from him.

Dizzy couldn't determine if he was happy or horrified that he would have to go back to high school. It honestly didn't bother him too much, but he didn't want to have problems with other people when he got there.

The three of them walked over to the house in the middle of the other two really big ones. Dizzy stopped whenever they got to the gate, shaking his head, refusing to walk onto someone else's property without permission. That and the fact that he honestly didn't want to see Rin too much.

Sia and Nerine noticed when he stopped and gave him a questioning look, but never got an answer, so they turned around and started for the door.

"It seems that something is eating away at him," Sia whispered.

"It seems so. He seems like a completely different person when mellow," Nerine responded.

"He seems so…I don't know…nice and respectful. And soft-spoken whenever he isn't angry," Sia sighed.

"Very true. I wish he could at least open up even a little bit. I haven't heard him speak at all since last night. I'm a little bit worried that he is the type of person that broods on the past," Nerine pondered.

"Most likely. It looks like all of us are going to have to help him a little bit. For now, though, let's worry about school!"

Sia rung the door bell, which was opened up by a girl with fairly short orange hair.

"Ohayoo Gozaimasu!"

"Ohayoo Sia-chan, Rin-chan. We'll be right out," the girl spoke softly, running inside to grab her stuff and getting the attention to the other two attendants in the house.

A few seconds later, three people came out; the girl with the short orange hair, Rin-san, and a short girl with long pale grey hair that was pulled into pigtails. Rin saw Dizzy outside of his gate and wondered why he wasn't with Sia and Nerine. He didn't brood on it much, as the entire gang needed to get to school before they were late. Running out of the gate, Rin stopped and nodded to him.

"We will be late if you don't hurry."

Dizzy nodded in comply and started to hustle with the rest of the group, keeping a careful eye on every singe one of the people and how close he actually got to them. The only people to realize that Dizzy was keeping his distance was Rin and Kaede, the girl with the orange hair. They looked at each other, then at him in the back. Rin nodded to Kaede, who in turn slowed down a little to tag along with the recluse.

"Ohayoo. I'm Kaede. We never did talk to each other last night. May I ask for your name?" Her voice was like honey, sweet enough to satisfy anyone, with a soft disposition.

Dizzy gazed intently at her as they were moving. Narrowing his eyes a little bit, he was examining something. Kaede saw the look that he was giving her, but didn't think he was thinking ill of her. Nodding his head, he looked down, then back at her.

"…Dizzy…"

Everyone heard him speak. Nerine and Sia were a bit surprised to see that he actually said something that morning. Rin smiled and Primula, the girl with the ponytails, was a bit confused. Kaede looked triumphant as she got him to speak up a little bit.

"See, that wasn't that hard, now was it? I hope we can become good friends," Kaede sounded like she really meant it.

"Hello!!!"

Suddenly, a girl came out of nowhere and looked like she knocked the living crap out of Rin, as he fell to the ground, rubbing at his back. Dizzy stood stoic as they stood in the foyer for the shoe lockers, looking down at Rin as he brought himself back up, with a painful expression written across his countenance, with only an eyebrow raised at what the hell just happened.

A girl with short green hair appeared and gave a salute to the group of people standing there. There was something of triumph written within her eyes that were not normally seen by a simple glance. Narrowing his eyes, Dizzy already didn't like her too much. There was far too many secrets hidden behind that innocent face that he could detect, since he himself does that all the time.

"Asa-chan…do you REALLY have to keep doing that?" Rin's face didn't show nearly as much pain as it did, but it was still there, somewhat.

The girl named Asa just stood there, giving him her million dollar smile that could stop nearly any guy in their tracks, which it did. Many male onlookers were glancing over at her, almost oogling. Dizzy didn't like that either. Did they not see the act that she had commited? He started to worry that he was going to be in a class of idiots like what he was witnessing now. A small scowl started to form in his eyes as he turned his attention to more important things: his own shoe locker. The thing is…he didn't know which one was his…or even what year and class he was in.

Rin, noticing this and seeing a way to get away from the girl named Asa before she broke his back, took this opportunity to quickly walk over to Dizzy, after ignoring a few choice glares from some of the girls.

"Did Rin-chan's father not say anything about what class you were going to be in?" Rin raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't surprised by Ma-ou.

Dizzy gave him a blank look and shook his head, amazed now by the sheer amount of shoes there were. Even he had his times of being truly surprised and caught off-guard, though rare they are. Rin laughed as he pat the man on his back and sighed.

"Well, it looks like we will have to find that out ourselves. Someone at the office should know, since the two of them said that they already registered you into the system."

Dizzy just nodded and started to follow Rin, who in turn, turned to the girls and expressing his apologies.

"Gomen. We will need to figure out where Dizzy will be. I hope I won't be too long. Everyone can go on ahead and get to class."

With that, the two only men departed from the group of girls. Asa and Primula where thoroughly confused by the newcomer. The green haired girl spoke up first.

"A new transfer student?" She sounded a little confused.

"You could say that…" Kaede and Sia said in unison.

Asa didn't think much of it and departed from the group to get to class, as did Primula, since the pale girl was in the junior high part of the school. Nerine, Kaede, and Sia looked at each other and started to think a little bit.

"You think oto-san would have put him into our class?" Nerine spoke up to the other two.

"It wouldn't be surprising if the two of them did. That would be the best way for Rin to watch over him." Sia shrugged her shoulders. Kaede, though, looked confused, speaking up.

"Eh? Rin-kun is supposed to look over Dizzy-san? Why is that?" She really wanted to know.

"Most likely, it is a test for the both of them, knowing our fathers." Nerine sounded content in what she had said. So much faith in her father.

Kaede nodded her head and decided to not pursue it until the time came for the information to reveal itself. The three of them then proceeded to get to class before the first bell rang.

Rin led Dizzy around the school in a winding of hallways, corners, classes, and overall insanity that was the layout of the school. How did this school come to be? Dizzy was thoroughly confused as he was blindly led to the office of the school. He doubted very seriously he could retrace his steps back to the beginning.

Both entered the room, and the sounds that were profoundly there suddenly stopped. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath or something. Dizzy thought they were a funny bunch. One man came up and gave Rin the information, rather quickly, and dismissed them about as quickly as he spoke. Both were confused by his actions, but shrugged it off as it being already a stressful day in the life of office workers. Rin, though, wasn't surprised that Dizzy was going to be in the same class as him.

Weaving through the school again, Dizzy found himself dizzy as the two of them arrived at the designated classroom, the teacher waiting outside for the two of them. Rin felt hot eyes as she looked in his direction. The other could see that the woman was most definitely the commanding one in any situation. He liked that kind of person.

"Tsucchi…you are a little late, as are you…uh…"

Rin's blue face started to fade as he introduced the man named Dizzy.

"This here is Dizzy. No family name. Just this given name. It was hard enough to even get that out of him…" '…even though I figured it out through shin-ou and ma-ou,' Rin finished in his head.

The teacher looked at the kid, and rose an eyebrow, with Dizzy looking her up and down, doing the exact same thing. Seeing this, a smirk was written across her face.

"Do you like what you see..?" There was a dangerous tone to her voice, giving Rin a good cue to bolt into the classroom before he got into something over his head.

Dizzy, at first, smirked before he burst out laughing, the first time he had ever done so since he got transported to this realm. The teacher looked at him like she was going to strangle him, her eyebrow twitching. Once he had calmed down enough, Dizzy spoke.

"So I read you right. You sure are a funny woman. I was only doing exactly what you were doing to me; summing me up in one glance. I'll tell you now: it is impossible to do that for me. I'm not like a normal person. But I think I have you already figured out…" There was mirth in Dizzy's voice the whole time, making the woman very angry, but inwardly felt that she had gotten her just desserts for her sudden rashness. She would never admit it, though.

"Alright, alright. I got your point. Now…it is time for class. I'll be introducing you here now, so just wait out here until you are called for."

Dizzy nodded and closed his eyes as the teacher went into the classroom, looking a little bit angry, but there was a certain pleasure written about her being. Something only Itsuki could examine.

"Ho…something must have happened with her and the new student. She looked like she just met her match." He couldn't help but have smiles written all over his contours.

Rin sighed as he looked at his friend who sat only one desk away, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, as if at a loss of words to say.

"Alright class!! We have a new student with us. He will be with us for now on, so please make him feel welcomed. You may come on in now…"

Dizzy heard the cue as he slowly opened up the door and crossed the threshold into his new life, which was just beginning. He could already feel the changes starting to happen now, but inwardly, he was both excited and afraid of the future. It didn't look as bleak as he once saw. For once, he actually bore a smile. A genuine smile that said that he was truly happy he was here. Kaede, Nerine, Sia, and Rin caught the smile as their jaws dropped. They didn't think a person such as himself could smile like that.

Crossing his right arm across his chest, Dizzy bowed, keeping his smile as he did so. All the students were marveled at the grace that such a person held. That and the fact that some of the girls were even sighing over him.

"My name…is Dizzy….Dizzy Delvar. 'Tis a pleasure to meet all of you. I hope to have the pleasure in getting to know all of you as I study here." There was sereneness about Dizzy that made nearly the entire group of girls swoon, including the teacher, as he concluded his introduction.

Everyone fell silent for a little bit before the teacher broke it.

"Alright. You can get the empty desk behind Tucchi. Let's get class started already."

There were some sighs of awe and groaning from the class as Dizzy quickly took his seat. His new life…was just beginning. How he will live this new life, not even he would know, but he planned on taking control of it a LOT more than he did in his last life. Challenges will abound, though, and test him to the limits of his very being.


	4. Episode 4: First Day in a New World

Bound By Destiny

A Shuffle! Fanfic

Chapter 4

First Day in a New World

High school: how it has been such a long time since Dizzy was last there. Sitting there in the desk had a nostalgic feeling that he could not shake when he first sat down. Floods of memories from the past started to invade his mind as he remembered old friends and classmates back in junior high and high school. Not exactly fun time, but at least they were times he could remember.

Shaking himself out of his sudden lapse in thought, Dizzy made sure to pay attention in class, like what he used to always do. This time, though, was even more interesting because it was information that he had never heard before, especially the lecture of the human world and the world of the gods and devils were merged. That, by far, intrigued him even more than the ancient civilizations from back in his world. And those were subjects he loved, too.

It was the beginning of lunch break whenever the bell rang. Many sighs were heard throughout the room as many of them flooded out to get something to eat. Still sitting there in his desk, Dizzy just looked at everyone. He didn't feel particularly hungry, plus he felt he should study a bit in the notebook that Rin let him borrow at the beginning of class, along with the mechanical pencil. Rin and the rest of the girls were about to leave the room whenever they noticed that Dizzy was still at his desk.

"Oi, Dizzy-san! You want to come join us?" Rin asked in his normal bravado.

Looking up from his notes, Dizzy blinked whenever he saw everyone. Then he started to sweat a little. "Ah…uh…if you don't mind…too much…"

He was flushed and about ready to want to jump out of the window. His breathing started to increase exponentially and his hands started to shake uncontrollably as he gripped the closed notebook.

Rin noticed that Dizzy wasn't doing too well and told everyone to go on ahead and that he would catch up to them soon enough. Walking over to were the disheveled Dizzy was, Rin put his hand on the other's shoulder, feeling that he was ultra nervous.

"I would have never thought, at first glance, that you were such an introvert. It is alright, none of them will hurt you, and I'll make sure you don't get too much attention, either," Rin smiled, giving Dizzy a thumbs-up.

A suddenly weak Dizzy looked up at Rin and then gave him a thumbs-up back. He just isn't used to large groups of people calling him over. Getting himself together, he got up and followed the other as they proceeded to the roof of the school.

Opening the door, the sunlight poured out and blinded Dizzy for a little bit. Since he did not have any protection, it was hard for him to see for a while.

Everyone looked over and saw that Rin and Dizzy finally came and called them both over. Both complied and slowly started towards the girls and Itsuki.

"Who gave you a bento this time, Itsuki-kun?" Mayumi asked.

"A girl from class 1-D," he said, obviously proud of himself.

"A first year, huh…" was the response of Rin as he walked over and was given a bento by Kaede.

Dizzy could not help but stop about half way between the door and the group of people. Mayumi saw the shy guy and told him to come on over and join the fun. But it was not exactly easy for someone such as Dizzy to be able to be around so many people, let alone so many girls. His breathing started to increase exponentially, and he was suddenly in a cold sweat, for the sun was not too bright and the wind gentle. His eyes started darting from person to person. One…two…three…four…five…six…six people…that was more than he could handle in one sitting.

Nerine, then stood up, and started towards Dizzy with a smile. "Everything will be fine. We won't hurt you." Her smile was enough to warm even the coldest of hearts, but it only made him even more nervous.

Dizzy took a step back as Nerine got closer. Soon, the world started spinning around him. Next thing he knows, he is on the ground, heavily breathing. And then he passes out from the anxiety.

Rin jumped up and ran over to Dizzy, whose body fell backwards and landed with a dull thud. "I didn't think someone could get an anxiety attack that easily…looks like there are quite a few things we need to figure out about him before proceeding any further," Rin said, mostly to himself, but everyone heard it anyway.

Nerine got up to go and help the fallen Dizzy to the infirmary, leaving the two bentos that her dad made for her and him behind. Everyone else was worried about Dizzy, too, but figured that Rin and Nerine could handle it themselves. Plus with how he reacted, it would not be wise for everyone to tag along.

"We'll be back in a bit. It seems that he just needs a little bit of time to adjust," Nerine spoke up, and then disappeared with Rin and Dizzy.

Everything was starting to coalesce from being scattered whenever Dizzy opened up his eyes. Slowly getting up from his lying position, he rubbed his eyes and clutched his head. It hurt for some reason. What happened again? Trying to remember, he pieced it together whenever the nurse came over to check on him.

"Oh, you are awake again! How are you feeling?" Concern was written all over her countenance and in her voice.

"Like, I fell out of my desk…" he mumbled a reply.

"Well, it isn't every day that we get people who are extremely sensitive to anxiety and/or stress. You gave everyone quite a scare whenever you passed out." She smiled. Then Rin and Nerine emerged from behind the woman.

"It seems that we didn't know of your condition, otherwise, we would have left you alone," Rin spoke, sounding like he was the one at fault. Dizzy smiled wanly and shook his head slowly.

"No, it is alright. I had too much pride to reveal my weakness without exposing it. I'm honestly no good when it comes to dealing with people." With a sigh, he slumped his shoulders.

It was Nerine's turn to comfort Dizzy, placing her hand on his shoulder. "It is alright to reveal your own drawbacks and weaknesses. Everyone has something they are good and not good at."

"Alright, you should hurry up and head to class, you two. I want Dizzy-san to stay with me a little longer, though." The nurse said.

The two of them nodded in unison and proceeded to go back to class, light worry written in their actions, but knew that he was in good hands.

The nurse sat down on the bed and looked over at Dizzy, who had scooted back a little to keep a specific distance from her. Raising her eyebrow, she asked him a question. "Were you…treated badly as a younger child?"

Looking up at the ceiling to evade eye contact, he didn't reply immediately. "It is complicated to say. I can say that I was treated better than some I knew, but of the people in my family, I was the one most overlooked. Nobody bothered to care what I thought or did, so I isolated myself from everyone else." There was a great sadness in his voice, and the nurse picked up on that immediately. "For many years, I had to care for myself, emotionally, to keep from breaking: that and the few friends that I did have relied heavily on my support for them to keep going. I had nobody to turn to for support, yet everyone needed my support…"

That didn't quite answer the nurse's question, but it did in the sense that something rather traumatic had happened to him in the past, and was exposed to it for a long period of time. Looking at Dizzy, she slowly smiled. "You really are strong and kind, aren't you? Not many people could continue to go on like you have."

That made Dizzy laugh a little. Then he brought his gaze down to the bed, fumbling with the sheets. "You might say that…but I did give up. I killed myself before being sent here. Or came close to it…" He extended his left arm and pointed at the spot where a scar should be, but was not. "I had cut myself right there because I could not handle it anymore. Can you honestly say that I'm strong after doing something like that?"

The nurse was lost in thought for a little bit, a bit startled at the information just given to her. She knew he was a special case, but she didn't think he had actually done something like that. "Everyone has a limit. Yours just seemed to be exponentially higher than most other people. You really are strong for enduring pain like that for so long, and not being able to do anything about it. No matter what you may think from back then, now you have people that actually worry about your well-being. It is not good to make them worry needlessly. It causes unneeded stress." She let out a small giggle, which helped to break the heavy atmosphere.

Dizzy, finally, looked up at the woman straight in the eyes. His dark brown eyes were a little teary. "Please…don't tell anyone about any of this. I don't want them to know about it…for now."

Seeing such an intense stare from the boy, she could not help but smile and agree. "I promise. It can be one of them doctor/patients cases. But you do need to talk to someone else about this. You may never know the results. It will take some time to get used to everything, but you might need to consider going to a real doctor for your anxiety attacks. We can't have you passing out every time you are asked to join a group." She stuck out her tongue and winked at Dizzy, then put her hand on his head and ruffled up his hair a little. "The bell will be ringing for the next class in a few minutes. You can leave then. Just remember; this is not like what it used to be for you. You have a chance to change yourself. Try your hardest, and the results will pay off in the end."

With that said and done, the nurse left Dizzy alone and went to go about doing her other duties.

Whenever the bell rang, Dizzy hopped up out of the bed and proceeded for the door. As soon as he opened it, there was someone else standing on the other side? It was Rin, followed by Nerine and Kaede. He jumped back a little from seeing so many people close by.

"Are you feeling any better?" Nerine asked.

"M…mm…I do feel a little better, though my head still hurts," Dizzy replied, letting out a laugh to try to loosen up the tension in his body.

The three of them noticed how tense he was, and stepped back, so that he could leave the infirmary. Then they all proceeded to head back to class.

"Honestly, it was good that you came anyway. I would have gotten lost in this school," Dizzy let out another laugh, less forced and sounded more relaxed than before.

"Hehehe, well, I guess. Our school is pretty big," Kaede responded. "Was your school not this big?"

Dizzy could not help but laugh. "Comparing my old school to this one is like comparing a dog and a cat. There are small similarities, but my old school was nothing compared to this."

Everyone was surprised by his sudden outburst. Then they reached the classroom and proceeded to enter before the teacher came back. Everyone's eyes were on Dizzy at that point. Being stared at like that made him really nervous, so he quickly went to his seat and went about doing miscellaneous stuff in his notebook. Some of the girls giggled at him, while some of the guys murmured to each other comments like, "what is he, a wimp?" or "he can't even handle talking to a girl, how pathetic."

Trying very hard to ignore everyone, Dizzy could not help but feel a little hurt on the inside. He did not want to make the same mistakes and make everyone fear him like he did before. He wanted friends, not people who only talked to him because they felt they had to.

Rin came over and pat him on the back before sitting in front of him. "Don't let weird rumors get to you. It happens to everyone that comes through here. They don't mean any real harm in it."

Silent, Dizzy only nodded. Then the teacher came in and started the last class of the day. Keeping his mind on the lesson, he did not let the comments about him bother him too much. They were just that, comments, the thoughts of other people. As long as he tried to keep a positive mind-frame, nothing bad will happen, like last time…

The bell finally rang for the end of school, with many sighs of rejoice coming from the students. Everyone looked like they were getting tired of the class, but Dizzy wanted more. He was even a little sad that he missed out on a few lessons on his first day. He hoped that would not hurt him too much in the long run. Rin got up and looked over at Dizzy and motioned for him. "We will need to get you a uniform, since we were kind of late this morning. Normally the school would not allow clothes that you are wearing right now, but it seemed that today was an exception."

"Rin-kun, are you not coming home with us today?" Lisianthus called over to him.

"Wari, wari, I'm going to help Dizzy-san get a uniform so that he does not get in trouble," he replied.

"Mm! Alright, we'll be leaving ahead of you!"

Everyone proceeded to start leaving school grounds, except for Rin and Dizzy, who were going about on special business. It did not take them long to get a uniform, and they were able to relax from there.

The both of them were on their way back to their respective houses.

"I did not think you were that much of an introverted person. You didn't have to push yourself to come up with us if you felt that uncomfortable." Rin spoke up first.

"…" For a little bit, Dizzy was silent, but then he responded. "…I'm not used to large groups of people at all. I had, at most, 3 people that I would hang out with, and even then we would keep our distance. Plus I am not used to so much strange attention."

"Strange attention..?" Rin was confused.

"Eh…back whenever I was in school, I was feared for what I was, a person with a different mind frame and interests. That was why I did not have many friends at all. Everyone either feared me, or hated me. If possible, I would not want that to happen again. But I don't want to be the butt end of jokes either…" Dizzy mumbled the last bit, which was almost inaudible to hear.

"Souka…you seemed to have had it rough, also. Well, if it helps any, I respect you for who you are, craziness and meekness and all. Everyone is different, so don't let a few details get the better of you."

Dizzy could not help but let out a small giggle. "You know...I'm starting to think that this won't be too bad at all."

"That's the spirit!"

The rest of the way home was left in silence, though the atmosphere was quite light.

Whenever Rin reached the gate to Kaede's house, he bid his farewell and separated. Then Dizzy reached the gate to the large house that was the home to Forbesii, Nerine's father. The pale man was actually waiting outside for him.

"Quite a first day, hm?" There was a smile written across his contours.

Dizzy laughed nervously, evading eye contact. "Ehh…you could say that…I'm guessing you heard from Nerine-san?"

"You gave her and the rest of them quite a scare whenever you suddenly passed out like that. I didn't think you were that sensitive to people interaction." Forbesii sounded genuinely concerned.

"Etou…sono…it is more along the lines of not being able to keep my cool around so many pretty girls. I was never popular with the opposite sex. Hell, I was never popular at all." Dizzy let out a small laugh. "I just…have a hard time interacting with girls in general."

Forbesii could not help but laugh. Dizzy started to turn red in the face and kind of curl back, his gaze cast to the ground. Then he felt a hand pat him on the head. "It is not everyday I meet people as pure as you. And I thought Rin was pretty bad. Hahahaha!"

"Don't think that I'm laughing at you. You are very unique. That uniqueness will be the seed that will help you grow into someone with better self-confidence. Now come, join me inside."

Dizzy followed in tow, getting the feeling that someone was overhearing the conversation. In truth, Kaede was outside and doing something in the garden whenever she heard Dizzy and Forbesii talking. She could not help but laugh a little at how innocent Dizzy was. But she kept it to herself whenever she went inside. 'I don't think Dizzy would want anyone to know about that just yet,' she thought to herself.

Once inside the house, Dizzy was told to free roam the house, since dinner was not yet prepared. He would be called whenever the food was done. Left alone, he started on the first floor. The walls were covered with paintings, beautiful paintings. Stopping at the first door on the right, he knocked and slowly opened it up. It was a closet, where the cleaning tools were stored. Closing the door, he went on to the next door beside it. Knocking on it, he slowly opened it again, not expecting the room to be filled to the ceiling with books. Mouth agape, Dizzy looked inside the huge room full of books and could not help but let out a coy giggle.

Leaving the door behind, he immediately set out to the first shelf and see what type of books the Lord of Devils had in his house. The titles were written in a language that he did not recognize at all. It wasn't Japanese, or Korean. But it had a similar concept. Pulling out one book, he wanted to look inside of it. It was filled with the same type of text as on the cover, so he did not know what it was at all, but he thought it was really intriguing. He always loved learning about new things. Putting the book back in its place, he went about to the second shelf and saw that the books were written in English. Well, Old English to be exact. It seemed to be many plays and scripts that spread across centuries in Europe. Quite an interesting find, but not something he could indulge in without being in the mood for something like that.

Jumping over to the next shelf proved to be a discovery. There were history textbooks spanning all across the world. Pulling some books from the shelf, he skimmed though one that talked about the America's, whenever they first started out as a country, and then jumped to another about the history of Germany. He realized he could spend weeks in this place ogling over the books. Putting away the books back in their order, he jumped over to the next to last shelf. It was filled with many strange texts with mathematical equations. Curious, he pulled one book and saw that it seemed to talk about the fabric of space and time, but it was in that same language that he saw at the beginning of the library. He knew it talked about space and time because of the equations and diagrams involved.

"This must have been one of the research text books that they must have used in trying to pull me here…" he mumbled to himself as he put the book back and looked through a different one that talked about Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry from a college perspective. Again, it was in the same language as before, but he was able to easily understand the concepts. Putting that book away, one book was lying on the ground, seemingly looking like it did not have a place here. Again, curious, he went over and picked it up. It was in a language he could read.

"Quantum Mechanics: Theories Behind the Unknown…eh?" He mumbled to himself.

Looking through the book, it talked about theories behind black holes, the warping of space due to it, and the possibility that it could be a worm hole to another universe. They were very interesting concepts, though a little farfetched, considering they were only theories. But the physics and calculus involved was almost spot on. He had never seen such equations done before.

"Oh? Interested in the study of physics?" Forbesii's voice came out of nowhere from behind Dizzy.

Dizzy jumped up and fell forward, throwing the book up and it landing on his head. It was quite a site.

"Ohoho! I didn't mean to scare you there. You really seemed into the book, though." He started apologizing.

"Oh, it isn't a problem. I just didn't think you had a plethora of books like this. I knew you were a well-read person, but this is something that would make most geniuses envious." Dizzy started to find the place where that book was supposed to go.

"Don't worry about that book. It actually is not cataloged in this library. Why don't you take it with you and read some. You look like you could try to understand them concepts. But I did want to tell you that dinner is about done. I'll need to check on the food." And with that, he disappeared just as quickly as he had come.

Looking at the book, Dizzy opened it back up and started to read some of the theories that it held, while walking around trying to find the dining room. Thankfully, it was very easy to find, for it was to the left and was in an open expanse, adjacent to the kitchen. Nerine caught sight of Dizzy reading one of her dad's books and let out a little giggle.

"So, you found oto-san's library?"

Dizzy looked up from his book and smiled wryly. "Ehehehe…I just could not help myself once I saw all of them books. I've always loved books. They were one of the first friends I had when I was younger."

"So you do like to read, then?" She sounded like she was really interested.

"Very much so. I would be bored in my classes so much I would pull out a book and start reading. They also helped me to deal with my inability to talk to people by avoiding talking to them at all. It was the best thing I could do for quite a number of years." He closed the book and sat down at the same spot he sat at that morning.

"Souka…"

Silence ensued for a little bit of time before the food was brought out. The meal was eaten in relative silence, with the natural talk about the day that was experienced. Of course, we didn't delve into what happened to me, thankfully, so I didn't mind the small chatter.

It was then that I realized this was the first time I had actually done this before. Eaten together and talked like a family. It was a little disturbing when he honestly thought about it. Normally his meals consisted of scraps of what was left of food whenever he could find a good stopping point in a game. And his family never ate together in the same room. Everyone was always scattered about the place.

Nerine noticed that Dizzy completely stopped moving, seemingly lost in thought. "Is something the matter Dizzy?"

For a second, he did not hear her, but then he suddenly looked at her, a disturbed visage he bore. "Oh…it is nothing…nothing at all…"

Quickly finishing up his portion, Dizzy felt really full. That was some of the best food he had eaten in quite a number of years. It was rare that he could sample someone else's homemade cooking.

Dizzy dismissed himself rather quickly, finding the same room that he was locked in last night. He did not want to bother the others with his brooding about the past. After a little while, he realized that he did not know where he was. Thinking for a minute, he turned into a different corridor and soon found a door similar to the one he remembered. Opening it up, he did not expect to hear a girlish scream as he walked in. Suddenly, he realized that this was not his room, but Nerine's, and she was in the middle of getting changed into her night clothes. Immediately, he ran out and slammed the door behind him. Flushed beyond belief, he tried to distance himself from that door as much as possible, running into Forbesii in the process.

"Doing a little bit of night exploring, hm?" It wasn't a dangerous tone, but it was pretty serious. Dizzy was thoroughly scared, though.

"I-I-I-I didn't mean to! The door looked exactly the same! I had no idea!" Dizzy was in a state of panic, walking in on the King of Demon's daughter as she was changing.

Forbesii could not help but laugh at the poor boy. "Daijoubu, daijoubu, I know you didn't mean to. I was just teasing you. But I didn't think that events could unfold so quickly…" He sounded like he was lost in thought for a second, and then was brought back to reality. "Don't worry. Your room is just beyond this corridor. You'll see the door soon enough. Sleep well."

For some reason Dizzy did not feel secure enough to think that he was just teasing, and went into his room as soon as he found it. Closing the door behind him, he let out a sigh and fell on the bed. His uniform was right there beside him. Staring at the clothing, he still couldn't believe that he was where he was then. Remembering that the book was in his hand, Dizzy opened it back up and read some more into it. He really liked how the people put their ideas together into such a piece. And the mathematical equations were stellar. Some of them, though, he could not help but question. Studying one of them, he did not hear the knock on his door. Nor did he hear the door open up.

"You must really like physics." Nerine's voice pierced the silence.

Dizzy jumped up, tossed the book in the air, and fell down, with the book falling on his head, again. Nerine could not help but let out a small giggle. "Oto-san said he got the same response when you were in the library."

More than a little flushed, he picked himself back up and dusted the book off. "Yeah, I tend to lose myself whenever I'm studying something interesting. But yeah, I do like Physics. Mathematical concepts are very intriguing to me." Then he suddenly remembered what happened earlier and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry for earlier! I honestly didn't mean to! Honto ni gomen ne!"

Nerine flushed a little, but let out a small giggle that was very cute. "I didn't think you would get lost like that and confuse my door for yours." It was her turn to be uncomfortable and embarrassed. "But it is alright. You honestly didn't mean to, and I forgot to lock the door myself, so it was partly my fault also."

After a little bit of silence, Nerine sat down beside Dizzy. "What calculation where you looking at?"

Going into auto mode, Dizzy opened up the book and showed her. "It is this one. I found it particularly interesting because the answer came out in that way. From what I remember, the problem should have been done in a more timely manner, and not rushed like this. Given a few days, I could probably recalculate it and check to see if the answers are similar."

Nerine was awe-struck. She was very smart herself, but the mathematical problem he showed her was way beyond her level of understanding, yet he was able to see that the answer was not exactly right, or done in the wrong manner. It was rare for her to encounter someone such as him. "You mean, you actually understand these concepts and calculations?"

Dizzy looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "It's simple advanced calculus. I used to work on these kinds of problems for fun."

She could not believe what she was hearing. She did not think he was THAT smart. But listening to him spurt out his answers like he was casually talking to someone made her head spin a little. "If I remember correctly, not even my dad or his researchers could understand the concepts in that book. That was the one found on the floor, right?"

Dizzy nodded his head. "It was. He said that I could borrow it and study it a little bit."

It was then that a few pieces fell together in Nerine's mind. She bowed to Dizzy and said her farewell before leaving. She had to find her dad. Running through the corridor, she found his room and quickly rushed in.

"Oh? Nerine-chan, what brings you?" Forbesii sounded a bit startled.

"Oto-san! You really are using him, aren't you!?

"What do you mean by that?" His tone became a little more serious.

"You said you had been studying Dizzy-san for years. You have also been studying that same book that he is reading for a number of years, also. Yet you couldn't figure out some of the concepts. You knew Dizzy-san would be able to understand such concepts. Was this the main reason you were looking at him as someone to pull from another realm?" She sounded disheveled, almost upset.

"Now, now. Calm down, Nerine-chan. It is true that I had been studying that book for years, but I honestly did not expect Dizzy-kun to be able find the book, let alone understand the advanced concepts behind it. But I am quite surprised that his discoveries could very well help propel the Yggdrasil Project. He may be one of the missing pieces that we needed. You know I would not use him in that manner without telling him first."

"Oto-san…" Nerine could not help but fall silent after her sudden outburst.

"Don't worry. Everything is fine. It is not surprising you jumped to such a conclusion. You really are a very smart girl." He beamed at his daughter. "Now off to bed, you have school in the morning."

Silent, Nerine nodded her head and left for her room, closing his door behind her. Sitting back in his chair, Forbesii gazed up at the ceiling. "Who would have thought we pulled such a genius without even realizing it? I'll need to tell Eustoma about this as soon as possible." Picking up the phone beside him, he called up his neighbor on the other side.

"You mean to tell me Dizzy-sama is able to understand them concepts?" Eustoma was quite surprised himself.

"I find it hard to believe myself. I did not think he was so knowledgeable in Quantum Mechanics as to find it fun to dissect mathematical concepts and figure out the answer." Forbesii retorted back.

"Do you really think he will have what it takes to be able to unlock some of the mysteries that the Yggdrasil Project holds?"

The pale man looked up at the roof of the small room, a secret place that was not known in the house. "I honestly don't know, but it would be wise to keep an eye on Dizzy-kun. I just think we got lucky. Either that…or THAT project ended up not only heightening his physical strength, but also his mental abilities?"

Eustoma looked to be in deep thought. "That could very well be a variable. But he had to have been smart in the first place to be able to understand them concepts and pick them apart for fun. I think we will need to keep a very close eye on Dizzy-sama over the next couple of days."

"Now, now, now…we can't hawk over him. He'll more than likely have another anxiety attack." Forbesii sounded stern.

"He had an anxiety attack?" It seemed that he was not told.

"Yeah. He is a very shy person, and is unnerved by pretty girls. So, naturally you get such a result. Passed right out whenever Nerine tried to walk towards him at school. Seems that he has become the laughing stock of the school in the process." He sighed.

"Oh…that isn't too good. He'll need to do something about that. Especially if he wants a girlfriend." Eustoma started laughing.

"Actually…that was the other reason why I called you over. It seems that Dizzy-kun has the same compatibilities that Rin-kun has. He could very well end up being the next god or devil."

"Oho!? Now that is an interesting predicament. I wonder if anyone else has noticed that yet?

Forbesii shook his head. "Nobody realizes it. At least, not that I know of, but it has only been the first day. We will have to wait and see what unfolds."

"I agree. Who would have thought that we gambled with the right person…"

The room fell silent as the two of them became lost in thought. After a little bit, the two of them parted ways. Neither of them knew of the events that would unfold later to come.


	5. Episode 5: A Past Coming Back to Haunt

A/N: Ah, yet another chapter. Took me long enough to finish this one, lulz. Had a lot on my mind and kinda went disappeareded for a while. It seems that the story has taken a turn for the stranger. But to me, stories that keep the readers on their toes and make them think that that was not going to happen is always a fun thing.

This isn't merely a story, though. This is a journey through the psyche of the human mind, and how weak and frail it really is. And what better anime to do it with, than with Shuffle! The anime portrayed some of the psychotic actions a little too profoundly compared to the game, but I still want that creepiness factor within the confines of this tale of a fragile boy trying to survive in a world that once turned their backs to him.

This is only the beginning of what is to come of Dizzy and the rest of them. I don't plan this story, I write it whenever I feel that the time is right for a new chapter to be born.

For now, let me shut it and let you continue on. Let us continue with the show!!

Bound By Destiny

A Shuffle! Fanfic

Episode 5

A Past Coming Back to Haunt

Dizzy went to sleep soon after Nerine had left the room. He wanted to make sure he was well-rested for the next day. A few things did bother him, though. Thinking back in the book, he could not help but wonder about one of them problems. It was one of them things that nagged at the back of his mind, but not something that was really significant. Before falling asleep, something else tugged at the back of his mind. It almost felt like 'that' time…

------

It was a dark and stormy night. The rain was beating down on the ground so hard that the soil had craters from the heavy raindrops. It was a pale darkness that was barely illuminated by a single lamp post standing off to the side of a paved road, still like a sentry keeping his post until the very last breathe. A lone figure was standing under the lamp post.

Weeping was heard from the lone figure. A sense of longing was emanating from the single sounds that the body was making.

Suddenly, a large gust blew by, forcing the person's hair to billow with the flowing current. Falling down, the single body did nothing to try to resist the wind, or break the fall. With a soundless thud, there was no movement, other than the clothing that was borne and the long hair.

Very soon, though, another being started to walk by and stopped at the body that was on the ground. Covered in a raincoat and under an umbrella, the person let out a small giggle, very feminine in nature.

"Is that all you have got to give after such a nominal problem? Pathetic."

There was scorn and mirth within the feminine voice as the body slowly bent down and caressed the person on the ground, the hand softly touching the masculine face of the being on the ground.

All of a sudden, a pair of glazed eyes looked up from the ground, at the person who was taking pity and comforting. First, there was little movement, but then the person started to get up and stand up in the rain again, having nothing but the clothes borne on the being to be protected from the rain.

A small laugh was heard from the smaller body, clad in a raincoat.

"It seems that I might have underestimated you. Still got some fight left in you, eh? Well, I hope that you can tolerate tomorrow. If not, I'll be there to help you whenever you need it most. You NEED me when it comes to such trivial things, honestly. I wish you had a better backbone."

There was more amusement in the voice than anything else, but there was a slight bit of irritation hinted towards the end. After staring at the, now standing, being, the other started to walk off into the distance.

"I won't need your help…ever again. I can handle everything myself. I will take control of my life!"

A voice that sounded like it was broken; almost no heart was heard at all within the words. But there was a hint of power within them that said that it was going to do whatever it takes to defy.

The only response was a maniacal laughter that echoed through dimensions, through time and space, and through thought and reason, piercing into the deepest part of the mind.

------

Waking up in a cold in a cold sweat, Dizzy was breathing heavily. His eyes were dilated and looked like he had been drugged. Bringing a hand to his head, he softly caressed his face. There was a disturbed look written all through it, and his mind did not fare any better.

"…a dream….it was only a dream…it was only a dream…" He constantly repeated that to himself as he turned to the side and set his bare feet down on the carpeted ground below him.

It was rare for Dizzy to have such disturbing dreams, but throughout his life, he has had ones very similar in respect, though the conversations were never the same, and neither were the actions. But the setting was always unchanging. It was always dark with one lamp to illuminate a road covered in a severe storm. He did not want to think that 'he' was trying to awaken. Thinking about it, he thought that he got rid of 'him' long ago; sealed 'him' away in the deepest recesses of his mind. But…

It seems that 'he' has come back to torment Dizzy. He did not know when or where 'he' will show up, only that it was a matter of time before he needed to get away from everyone and everything when that happened. It was sad to think that, but he had little choice in the matter. Thinking about it, he did not want anyone else to know, or have anyone else to worry about him. He did not want it to end like it did last time…

So much hatred…so much heartache…so much…blood…

Heaving a sigh, Dizzy knew that he would not be able to fall asleep after having such a nightmare as what he just had so he decided that he would go on ahead and get himself a bath and clean himself up. Bathing also helps him to clear his mind a little bit more. After that, he will need to go outside and walk around for a while. That helped him to clear his head and think more rationally.

Still panting heavily, Dizzy tried to remember where the bathroom was, thinking back to yesterday where Forbesii showed him the way. Reaching his destination without a problem, he entered the prep room and locked the door behind him. Undressing himself and grabbing his towel, he entered the main bath and relaxed in the waters for what seemed like hours. Thankfully it was no more than thirty or so minutes.

During that time, though, thoughts ran through his mind. Thoughts about whether or not 'he' was really back, or if he was just having a bad dream. He was really hoping for the latter. Splashing water in his face, he got himself out of the water and proceeded to dry himself off. Re-entering the prep room, a new set of undergarments was already there, like they were yesterday. Still a little wary of why that was like it way, he reluctantly took the undergarments and put them on, leaving the rest of the clothing in a neat pile for later pick-up, or whatever happened to them. For all he knew, they could be burned. Dizzy let out a small laugh as he walked back to his room, encountering no problems at all.

Putting on his new uniform, Dizzy felt exceedingly strange. Never before did he have to wear something such as that uniform to school before. Honestly, he did not like the fact that everyone had to be uniform. He liked individuality. And he liked people who showed individuality without breaking the rules. Only buttoning up the first button at the collar, he left the rest open, revealing the pale blue shirt that he bore under it. The slacks were of the same color as the shirt, a solid white, with a single black stripe running down the sides of the legs.

'Well, at least they are comfortable,' he managed to mumble to himself in his mind. 'Not like what I used to wear, but tolerable.' He then bore a small smile.

Exiting his room as silently as possible, he made his way to the front door, taking a little bit of time remembering how to get there, and proceeded to exit, slipping on a pair of shoes that looked like they could fit him. Walking down the walkway, he knew that the shoes were going to feel weird. He was used to walking around in boots all the time. But now that he is actually wearing normal shoes, it just felt weird.

Opening the gate outside, it was still dark, so it was a little hard to see parts of the street that the lamps did not laminate. Reminded of his dream again, Dizzy shook his head and proceeded to walk around and familiarize himself with the area around him whilst clearing his mind of a possible problem that might arise later on.

'I hope "he" does not show his face…not again…not when there are people that actually care…' was his last words as he walked off into the distance.

------

Forbesii was up early, surprisingly enough, after a late night last night. The first thing he wanted to do was check up on his new subject -- err, house guest. First knocking on the door, he did not hear a response, and turned the knob, pushing it open slowly. To his surprise, Dizzy was not in the room at all. He thought that was rather strange of the person to suddenly disappear. There was a small thought in the back of his mind that said that something might be wrong, but he brushed it off to the side and figured that he went out to get some fresh air. But he wanted to know why…

This time, it was Nerine to come to Dizzy's door, only to see her father standing there.

"Oto-san…why are you here?" She was utterly puzzled.

"It seems that Dizzy-kun is not in his quarters. Rather strange, if I do say so myself. I just think he went out for a little bit. He's probably still trying to grasp the whole situation here." He nodded, assuring himself that that was what Dizzy was doing.

"……" There was no response from Nerine as she nodded her head in silence and went back to her room.

'Could something have happened to him last night?' Slightly worried, she entered her room and proceeded to get herself ready for the rest of the day.

------

"Ohayou, Rin-kun! It is time to get up."

There was shifting under the sheets right before Rin's head popped up from under the covers and pillow. He was still half asleep, but registered that it was only Kaede who came to wake him up. Very soon after leaving the room, she proceeded downstairs to get things prepared for the day while Rin got up to get himself changed.

All of a sudden, there was a scream, followed by a loud crash. Suddenly in a state of panic, Rin quickly finished and dashed down the stairs to see what the commotion was all about. The sight was not pleasant whenever he reached the dining area.

The glass sliding door window was broken, with a single body lying in a disheveled state, blood littered all over the body and on the wood floor. Quickly going over to the body, Rin was careful to move the person gently, and noticed right away that it was Dizzy, unconscious and bleeding profusely from a gaping hole that was in his torso.

"Kaede, call the paramedics!! He is still breathing!" Rin was frantic. It was not often that he was put into situations like this.

Responding immediately to his words, Kaede dashed to the phone and made the phone call. In the midst of all the chaos, Primula walked down the stairs, wondering what all the commotion was about. She did not know the severity of the situation until she saw that same person from the night before lying in a pile of glass in their dining room. Her eyes widened slightly, seeing an unconscious Dizzy on the ground. Rin saw her and ran over to her, gently guiding her out of the room. It was all he could do at the moment.

Suddenly, there came a stir from the glass-laden ground. Dizzy was starting to come to. Panting heavily, he put his left hand over his wound and proceeded to stand up, coughing up blood in the process. Kaede, who was finished on the phone, heard the actions and went to see the situation and gasped as she saw him standing up, a glazed look in his eyes, like he was not completely there.

"Oh…my…you need to lie down until the paramedics come! You'll die in that state!" There was concern riddled through her voice.

All Dizzy could do was let out a small laugh. "I've been through worse than this. 'He' won't allow me to die in such a manner without torturing me." Panting heavily, he started to walk forward, only to fall down again into the glass, making an 'omph' sound as he landed.

Sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Damn Emerald and his meddling!" spoke Dizzy, before he started another coughing fit, everything going black for him again.

Kaede heard him clearly, and wondered who this 'Emerald' character was. It seemed to bother her somewhat, but she would have never known what he meant by it until he had woken up.

------

Again, there was nothing but a small amount of light. The rain was just as hard, if not harder. Two bodies, this time, was standing under the lamp post. One clad in a raincoat and umbrella and the other in rags for clothing.

"It seems that you underestimated me. You see what happens when you defy me? Don't think that I won't do this to the others either. Remember your place, and nobody will ever get hurt again." The feminine-type voice echoed in the pale darkness.

All that was heard after that was weeping from the other body, lacerations littering it, like it was beat down with a whip.

"Only I control you…you can't control yourself, so leave everything to me…I'll make them pay for trying to make you think you could try to control your life!" There was anger in the voice, now.

After that, only the sound of the rain falling and the small voice weeping were heard.

------

"It is a miracle that he is still alive after all that blood-loss and the severity of the wound." A doctor clad in a white overcoat spoke. "And with the severe trauma to the head at the left temple, it seems that he was beaten down with a blunt weapon and then stabbed with it. Could possibly have been a piece of pipe or something of similar shape?"

Forbesii bore a dark face as he stared at the doctor. He, his daughter, Rin, Kaede, and Primula were standing outside the door to the emergency room. Everyone else bore grave faces.

"What kind of maniac could do such a thing?" Forbesii sounded a little mad. He did not like unknown elements to be thrown into the equation.

"Honestly, I could not tell you immediately; could have been a gang of people that punished him for trespassing on their turf. But even then, this is extremely excessive, even among gangs and thugs. It is rare for me to encounter a blunt object piercing a body like that and causing such damage."

Everyone fell silent, including the Doctor. The man honestly did not know what to think of the situation. But he knew that something was not exactly right about it, and everyone else knew that too.

All of a sudden, there was a burst from the door behind them. The doors were knocked off of their hinges, revealing a rather distant looking Dizzy.

Rin was the first to recover from the shock. "What are you doing, Dizzy-san? You should not be moving around like this when-"

"Dizzy? Dizzy!? Hahahahahaha!!! How could you confuse me with that pathetic person? I'm the other half of him that rules his mind and soul. Emerald is my name. I will NOT have outside interference to reconstruct what I've destroyed." Emerald had a maniacal tone to his voice, like he was insane.

Kaede gasped at the name. 'So this was what Dizzy-san was talking about…'

Forbesii glared at the new character that emerged from the body of Dizzy. "It seems that I completely overlooked the fact that something like you existed. But no matter. It is not your choice to make Dizzy's decisions. Be gone, demon!" He was about to summon up a magical incantation before Nerine and the rest of them stopped him.

"You can't hurt Dizzy! He's still severely wounded!" Nerine was the one who spoke this.

Seeing an opening, Emerald proceeded to jump towards Nerine, laughing in the process. All of a sudden, a blast came from the side and hit him straight across the head, knocking him unconscious again. Eustoma came just in time, with Sia right beside him.

"I would have never thought that Dizzy-dono had such a mental condition. We should have known, with what his past looked like, but I never would have imagined it to have accelerated to such a state." Eustoma sounded concerned, running over to where everyone else was.

In the process of the Lord of Gods talking, the doctors picked up Dizzy's body and put him back in the emergency room, making sure that nothing more was wrong with his body. They will have to do something about his mind later.

"Oto-san…what is going on here..?" Nerine sounded confused.

"I agree. You two seem to know something that we do not." This time Rin spoke up.

There was a thoughtful look that dawned on Forbesii's face. It was like he was having a hard time putting together the words. After a few moments of silence, he finally answered, thoughtful in how he put his words.

"It seems that I was not completely right whenever I spoke to you that night, Rin-sama. I knew Dizzy had a second personality, but it seemed that he had not actually manifested himself. He was just caught up in the moment of trying to relinquish his life of all the pain he had to endure. I would have never guessed that his 'true' second personality was as violent as we just witnessed.

"Which makes me wonder…what did Dizzy REALLY have to endure for all those years? And was the wounds inflicted upon him really done by another person? If I do say so myself, trying to stab someone with a blunt object is clearly torture. And this 'Emerald-san' was not happy at all in the two of us meddling in what seems to be his affairs.

"But I am certain that Dizzy is the true mind; it is just that he has no ability to be able to control what the other mind does anymore. It seems to have become a completely separate entity unto itself. Quite a rare find, if I do say so myself. It is extremely rare to encounter someone with a true case of Dissociation Identity Disorder."

Eustoma nodded silently, adding on to what Forbesii said, realizing that everyone had a query look in their faces. "Dissociation Identity Disorder is similar in respect to Schizophrenia in that it is a mental disorder and tends to happen to people who lived in very broken environments and were not tended to carefully. It is also partly genetic, so people who's ancestors before them suffered from DID, then it was likely that the later generation would, but that is only speculation.

"Schizophrenic people are introverted, quiet people who have problems dealing with society and tend to think incoherently. People have confused that schizophrenics have multiple personalities, since they talk to themselves quite a bit, but through later research, it was proven that that was not the case. DID, on the other hand, is a much more severe mental illness that involves a person whose mind is literally divided into different personalities, depending on the situation at hand, or through sudden shock, etc. Normally, the person either has no awareness of the entity at all, or multiple entities in most cases, or are slightly aware of something that is not quite them that is in their mind.

"Not even I would have thought that someone such as Dizzy would have such a mental disorder, but it seems that we underestimated the situations. Plus we've only been examining him for but a few years. It seems that his second personality emerged long before we ever started watching over him, and seemed to have been sealed away, also."

The two god's words were disturbing among the lot of them. But it was Sia who reacted the worst to the new information that was presented to him. Her face downcast, it looked like she was lost deep in thought.

'I did not think such a problem existed for other people, also…but it seems that his was due to different circumstances…' Sia thought to herself, thinking about the other 'her' that was hidden deep within the folds of her mind.

Rin saw Sia look distraught. He went over and put his hand on her shoulder. His smile spoke a million words as he nodded to her, understanding her situation, recalling the escapades that she forced him into whenever her other 'self' emerged. She looked up at him and gave him a wry smile.

Kaede was gnawing on the data given to her ever intently. She had heard about those types of disorders, reading about them every now and then in the local newspapers.

Then she thought about what had happened in the time frame that was between waking up Rin and Dizzy flying through the window.

------

Kaede was the first to come downstairs, humming to herself, obviously in a good mood. In the midst of preparing breakfast, she heard a sudden screech outside, followed by a few noises. The next thing she knows, a body is tossed over the wall and right through the sliding door, into the house. Of course, her first reaction would be to scream at the sudden act, but then horror started to dawn on her as to what had just happened. And the blood did not help calm her down either.

------

Shivering, she would have never thought that something like that could ever happen to people she would know. Primula came over and tugged on Kaede's arm, her always blank look seemed to have been mixed with confusion.

"Does that mean he is crazy?" She put it rather bluntly.

For a second, Kaede could not answer the question, for it really was true, but she did not want to say that. Thankfully, Forbesii intervened.

"In a way. Someone can be crazy, yet still be sane. Consider this a lesson in Psychology." He pat the pale girl on the head, getting a nod from her. She was not completely stupid, but there were still things that she did not quite understand.

"And with that said and done, I think it would be best if you all went about to school. Education is as important as worrying over a friend. Don't worry; he is in good hands. I'll make sure of it." Forbesii was dead serious in his tone.

Everyone was reluctant to leave, but realized that they did need to get off to school. They were already missing the first lesson of the day.

After everyone parted, it was just Forbesii and Eustoma standing in front of the ER doors, in the midst of repairing what 'Emerald' had done. Both were silent for a while, waiting to hear anything new from the doctor.

About a half hour later, the same man walked out of the ER room, the light turning off in the process, and relinquished a sigh of success and worry.

"Dizzy-san has become stable. Surprisingly, the wound is starting to close by itself. I have never seen a human body able to accelerate its own repairing process in such a manner. In itself, he is a scientific wonder. I would like to run a few tests on him. It is quite intriguing…"

Eustoma looked over to his friend, then back to the doctor. "Sorry, but we have to keep him under specific variables. In a way, I'm not surprised by this predicament. It seems that there is quite a bit that we need to look over in that project."

The doctor looked displeased, but knew that he could not pry any further. "Then, at the rate that he is healing, he will be out of here within a few hours. He'll just need a bit of sleep and something to eat after all that blood-loss."

Both nodded at that and awaited the release of Dizzy in content silence.

------

The darkness was all-consuming, only retreating from the single light post that stood tall beside the side of the road. This time, though, there was no rain. But the wind was just as violent as before, beating the lone figure down to the ground, almost pinning it. Soft footsteps were heard as a female figure suddenly emerged from the darkness, walking into the circle of light. Her hair was twice as long and her body shorter than the figure's who was lying on the ground. Walking up to the body that could not seem to move, she softly caressed his hair, almost like she was afraid she would hurt him. Then she grabbed a fist-full of hair and pulled the figure's head up, her eyes gazing directly into the inert other.

"You are mine…and mine only…I will not tolerate anyone else taking you away from me. But you should have realized this; you DID create me." Her voice was soft, loving, gentle, so many more emotions that it was hard to tell what she was actually saying. Then she let go of the hair and watched as the head limply fell to the ground with a dull thud. A small laugh reverberated in the air, but it was not from the female. It was the figure's voice on the ground.

"…heh…hehehe…"

The female used both of her hands, this time, and picked up his head, holding it like it was the most fragile thing in the world. The gaze that she bore was that of true affection, but the receiving gaze was that of nothingness, a blank stare that almost looked as if the figure was dead. Then she brought her face closer to the figure's and proceeded to press her lips against his, holding onto him like he was the only thing she had left. The arms that were once limp suddenly revived, wrapping around the body of the female. Even after everything, he still could not come to terms with the fact that he was the reason for her hate and despair; he was the reason for both of their hate and despair; he was the reason why both of them exist in the same body; and he realized that only one of them will be able to stay in the body they occupied together.

------

Slowly opening his eyes, Dizzy noticed that there was nobody around him. He was in a single room with four walls that were white. Getting up from his lying position, he put his hand to his face and felt all the sweat on his skin. Those dreams were starting to get far more frequent than what he used to have. He then wondered if it was a sign of something to come.

The door opened up to reveal the two gods and the same doctor who treated Dizzy. They still looked concerned, but there was also relief in their eyes.

"It seems that you have finally awoken," Eustoma said.

"…" was all that came out of Dizzy.

"Since your wounds have nearly healed completely, you are free to go when you feel you can get leave," the doctor was the one who spoke that time.

"…" Dizzy gave a blank stare back to the three of them, his brown eyes glazed over in a haze. Forbeshii got a closer inspection of the kid and realized that he was in a catatonic state.

"It seems that he still has not completely awoken, or he refuses to come out after that act that 'Emerald' had done. We'll take him from here, doctor."

The man wanted to protest, but knew that they would have a better chance with the boy than he and his staff would. Picking up Dizzy's body, Eustoma held him in both hands as the two of them left the room, and the hospital soon afterwards. The sun outside was high and bright. It was mid-day, just after lunch. But none of them were particularly hungry.

"Dizzy-dono is nothing but a pile of mysteries wrapped together. Definitely keeps things interesting." Eustoma was trying to look on the brighter side, but the other was not thinking such happy thoughts.

"It certainly does…but it provokes too many unknown variables. It is hard to determine what he will do next, if 'Dizzy' is the one that wakes up. It seems that we got into something a lot deeper than we originally anticipated. But I do like to think of this as a healing process for someone who has lived such a messed up life as Dizzy-kun has."

The rest of the time spent walking to Eustoma's was spent in silence, both deep in thought about many different things. It will definitely be harder for them to determine what might happen whenever 'Dizzy' wakes up.


End file.
